A growing trend in Azerbaijan threatens to break into a demographic crisis: women pregnant with female children are forced to undergo abortions by their husbands and relatives. According to the statistics committee, 60 percent of all abortions carried out in the past year have taken past during the third month of pregnancy, when the sex of the child can be determined though ultrasound testing. Apparently, this trend is unrelated to religious beliefs, since Islam outlaws both abortions and choosing the sex of the child. However, the prestige associated with a male offspring results in domestic abuse for women pregnant with girls.

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Azeri Alarm at Abortion of Female Foetuses